National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover

www.nasa.gov
Curiosity’s Mission: Was Mars Ever Habitable? acquires rock, soil, and air samples for onboard analysis. Quick Facts
Curiosity is about the size of a small car and about as
Part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, Launch — Nov. 26, 2011 from Cape Canaveral,
tall as a basketball player. Its large size allows the rover
Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever Florida, on an Atlas V-541
to carry an advanced kit of 10 science instruments.
sent to Mars. Curiosity’s mission is to answer the Arrival — Aug. 6, 2012 (UTC)
Among Curiosity’s tools are 17 cameras, a laser to
question: did Mars ever have the right environmental Prime Mission — One Mars year, or about 687 Earth
zap rocks, and a drill to collect rock samples. These all
conditions to support small life forms called microbes? days (~98 weeks)
help in the hunt for special rocks that formed in water
Taking the next steps to understand Mars as a possible and/or have signs of organics. The rover also has Main Objectives
place for life, Curiosity builds on an earlier “follow the three communications antennas. • Search for organics and determine if this area of Mars was
water” strategy that guided Mars missions in NASA’s ever habitable for microbial life
Mars Exploration Program. Besides looking for signs of • Characterize the chemical and mineral composition of
Ultra-High-Frequency
wet climate conditions and for rocks and minerals that ChemCam Antenna rocks and soil
formed in water, Curiosity also seeks signs of carbon- Mastcam MMRTG • Study the role of water and changes in the Martian climate
over time
based molecules called organics. Organics are the Low-Gain
Antenna • Characterize the radiation environment for future human
chemical building blocks of life. If Mars had long-term REMS
High-Gain missions to Mars
water and organics, the chance that Mars had conditions Antenna
to support microbial life is greater. Scientists expect that RAD Size
DAN
life on Mars, if it existed at all, would be microbial. Length —10 feet (2 meters), not including the 7-foot
For most of Earth’s history, the only life forms were (2.1-meter) arm
microbes. Microbes still make up most of the living MARDI
Width — 9 feet (2.8 meters)
matter on Earth. Height — 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall
Turret
Weight — 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds)
Curiosity’s Landing Site: Gale Crater Robotic Arm (APXS + MAHLI) Mobility
System Thermal and Electrical Power
After an eight-month trip of about 354 million miles (CheMin, SAM inside the rover)
Radioisotope Power System — a Multi-Mission
(570 million kilometers), Curiosity landed safely in the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG)
96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) Gale Crater, at the
Science Instruments
base of giant Mount Sharp. Pioneering precision landing More Information
techniques, engineers reduced the area of the landing Remote Sensing
ellipse by about four times, with the final ellipse mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
Mastcam — Mast Camera
measuring 4 miles wide and 12 miles long (7 kilometers www.nasa.gov/msl
ChemCam — Chemistry and Camera
by 20 kilometers). The 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) MARDI — Mars Descent Imager Facebook
mountain has multiple rock layers. Each layer reveals Facebook.com/MarsCuriosity
information about a different time in Mars’ history. Contact Instruments (Arm) Twitter
Curiosity will study these layers for clues about ancient APXS — Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer Twitter.com/MarsCuriosity
habitable environments and Mars’ ability to preserve MAHLI — Mars Hand Lens Imager
evidence of them. NASA selected Gale Crater in part The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
because instruments on Mars orbiters previously found Analytical Laboratory (Rover Body) Technology, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for NASA’s
signs of special clay minerals that form in the presence SAM — Sample Analysis at Mars Science Mission Directorate.

of water and are known to preserve organics. CheMin — Chemistry and Mineralogy
An artist's concept of the
Environmental Instruments
The Rover Curiosity rover on Mars.
REMS — Rover Environmental Monitoring Station
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
To find out if Mars could have been a habitat for life, RAD — Radiation Assessment Detector
Curiosity surveys the environment at Gale Crater and DAN — Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Building, Testing, and Transporting NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity

www.nasa.gov
Curiosity’s Mission: Was Mars Ever Habitable?
Part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission,
Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever
sent to Mars. Curiosity’s mission is to answer the
question: did Mars ever have the right environmental
conditions to support small life forms called microbes?
Engineering Teamwork
Thanks to countless and demanding hours of effort
from a workforce of thousands of people, Curiosity
came together from a collection of individual instru-
ments and rover systems to create an incredibly capable
and sophisticated rover. Teamwork also enabled a radi-
cally new entry, descent, and landing (EDL) system for
precision landing, and the assembly of a spacecraft
system that carried Curiosity to Mars. Several
universities, government research labs, and private
labs built and tested individual instruments for the
rover at locations in the United States, Spain, Russia,
Canada, France, and Germany.
The Birth of a Mars Rover
Engineers built Curiosity and its spacecraft in a clean
room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
Pasadena, California. A clean room has vents to send in
clean air and extract particles of dust, skin, hair, chemi-
cal vapors, aerosols, and airborne organisms, protecting
the spacecraft, the rover, and its science instruments.
When in a clean room, engineers dress in “bunny suits”
(hoods, coveralls, boots, and gloves) to minimize adding
particles and bacteria to this environment. The eyes are
the only part of the body that is not covered. Engineers
built Curiosity in a “Class 10,000” clean room. That
means that in every cubic foot (about 28 liters) of air, no
more than 10,000 particles at one-half a micron (one
half-millionth of a meter) or larger, and no more than
63 particles at five microns or larger, are present. That
may sound like a lot of particles, but they are incredibly
minute, and the particle counts are much less than for
outside air. For example, one strand of human hair
measures about 100 microns.
Rigorous Rover Testing
At every stage of assembly, engineers tested the
spacecraft and rover, and their many parts. Not only
does each part have to perform correctly, they all have
to work together as designed. Some of the key systems
tested include the rover’s mobility system and its robotic
arm, both critical to the rover’s mission goals. For mobil-
ity, engineers ran the rover’s six-wheel suspension sys-
tem through obstacle courses and a series of drop tests
to ensure its safe landing. Engineers also made sure to
fine-tune the motions of Curiosity’s long arm so it can be
guided exactly where the mission team wishes it to go.
While the arm is strong, it needs to be able to move
accurately enough to drop an aspirin tablet into a
thimble.
Prior to launch, engineers also go through a testing
process fondly known as “shake and bake.” Taking
place in the 25-foot (8-meter) Space Simulator at JPL,
this process ensures that the spacecraft, rover, and its
instruments can withstand the intense vibrations and
heat of launch, as well as the ultra-cold, high-vacuum
and strong radiation exposure it will experience during
the interplanetary cruise from Earth to Mars.
Transporting Curiosity to Florida
After months of building and testing the Curiosity rover,
the team disassembled the rover and its cruise stage
and carefully packed both for a cross-country trip from
the rover’s birthplace in California to its final Earth-bound
destination, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The large spacecraft components required two trips.
An Air Force C-17 transport plane carried the spacecraft
components on two flights, which began at March Air
Reserve Base in Riverside, California. The rover’s
aeroshell (the protective covering made up of the back
shell and heat shield, built by Lockheed Martin), required
for entry and descent through Mars’ atmosphere, and
the cruise stage that carried the rover to Mars arrived
at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center first. On the second
trip, the rover was accompanied by the rocket-powered
descent stage that flew Curiosity in the final moments
before touchdown on Mars.
Pre-launch Testing at Kennedy Space Center
Although arrival in Florida was a significant milestone
for the mission, engineers still had considerable
work to do to prepare Curiosity for launch. A team of
engineers and technicians spent countless hours in
the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility clean room
at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, reassembling the
spacecraft and conducting even more tests.
While engineers readied Curiosity and its spacecraft
components for launch, United Launch Alliance
personnel at Kennedy Space Center also worked to
get Curiosity’s launcher, the Atlas V-541 rocket,
ready for liftoff.
Curiosity successfully launched on Nov. 26, 2011,
from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on an Atlas V-541.
More Information
mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
www.nasa.gov/msl
Facebook
Facebook.com/MarsCuriosity
Twitter
Twitter.com/MarsCuriosity
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for NASA’s
Science Mission Directorate.
1 2
1 Connecting Curiosity's heat shield
and back shell.
2 Ramp drive test of Curiosity's
3 4
rocker bogie suspension system used
to drive over uneven ground.
3 Mars rover Curiosity flexing its robotic arm.
4 The Curiosity rover, turning in place.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity: Pioneering New Landing Technologies

www.nasa.gov
Curiosity’s Mission: Was Mars Ever Habitable?
Part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission,
Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever
sent to Mars. Curiosity’s mission is to answer the
question: did Mars ever have the right environmental
conditions to support small life forms called microbes?

Seven Minutes of Terror

One of the most hair-raising and nail-biting parts of the
mission after launch was Curiosity’s landing, known to
the mission team as “Seven Minutes of Terror.” Curiosity
descended from the top of the Martian atmosphere to the
surface of Mars. Hundreds of things had to go right, with
precise timing. The friction of the atmosphere slowed the
spacecraft from 13,000 mph (about 21,000 kph) to about
900 mph (about 1,450 kph). The vehicle’s heat shield
reached 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,648 degrees Cel-
sius). The supersonic parachute slowed down the space-
craft from about 900 mph to 180 mph (about 1,450 kph
to about 290 kph), the speed of a Formula One race car!
While slowing down on its parachute, the heat shield
popped off and Curiosity got its first view of Mars. The
rover began taking video-quality pictures of its remaining
5-mile (8-kilometer) flight to the ground. The engines of
the descent stage roared to life and lowered the rover the
last mile to the surface. As it descended, the rover used
radar to measure its speed and altitude to land safely.
The descent stage lowered the rover on three nylon ropes
to the surface before cutting the ropes and flying away.
Curiosity landed safely in Gale Crater, slightly south of the
equator of Mars and only 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from
the center of its landing ellipse, on Aug. 6, 2012 (UTC).
Pioneering New Landing Technologies
Given the rover’s large size, engineers had to design
a new guided entry, descent, and landing (EDL) system
that would sufficiently slow it down in Mars’ thin atmo-
sphere. This mission is the first to use this precision
landing technique. Successfully demonstrated, this
system paves the way for advanced heavy payloads in
future Mars missions and for landing in thousands of
sites rather than a handful. Stunning video-quality images
during descent could be used on future missions to
detect and avoid rocks or other obstacles during landing.
Guided Entry Parachute Descent Powered Descent Sky Crane
Curiosity’s new landing system had four phases: More Information
Guided Entry — The aeroshell measured its deceleration and mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
performed a set of banked turns that adjusted its altitude and www.nasa.gov/msl
distance to the landing site. This process improved landing Facebook
accuracy from hundreds of miles to about 12 miles (20 kilome- Facebook.com/MarsCuriosity
ters). This control meant that no matter where the rover landed, Twitter
it would land on safe terrain and be within driving range of the Twitter.com/MarsCuriosity
rocks and minerals targeted by the science team.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Parachute Descent — Upon nearing the landing site, a 70-foot- Technology, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for NASA’s
diameter (21-meter-diameter) parachute deployed and slowed Science Mission Directorate.
the spacecraft further.
1 2 1 Curiosity snaps a photo of its heat
Powered Descent — Just a mile above the surface, the
shield during descent.
rover dropped out of the back shell and parachute, attached
3 4 2 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
to a rocket “jet pack.” Rockets controlled the spacecraft as it
catches the Curiosity rover and
responded to measurements of distance from the surface. parachute during descent.
3 This picture shows the four main pieces of hardware to land
Sky Crane — In the “sky crane” maneuver, a jet pack
Curiosity on Mars.
lowered the two-ton rover 27 feet (8 meters) down to the
4 Testing the parachute in the world’s largest wind tunnel.
surface on three nylon ropes. The rover touched down directly
on its wheels — a feat never before attempted on Mars.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UofA (1-3); NASA/JPL-Caltech/Pioneer Aerospace (4)

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity and Its Robotic Arm

www.nasa.gov
Curiosity’s Mission: Was Mars Ever Habitable? Elemental Chemistry Tool Scoop and Sieve

Part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission,
Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever
sent to Mars. Curiosity’s mission is to answer the
question: did Mars ever have the right environmental
conditions to support small life forms called microbes?
Curiosity’s Robotic Arm
Curiosity’s 7-foot (2.1-meter) arm holds and moves
tools to help scientists get up-close and personal with
Martian rocks and soil. Curiosity’s arm has a shoulder,
elbow, and wrist for maximum flexibility. Its main job is
to bend and stretch to deliver instruments on its “hand”
for close-up study of rocks and other targets. It can
angle tools precisely against a rock to work as a human
geologist would, brushing away dust, taking microscopic
images and analyzing the elemental composition of the
rocks and soil.
Curiosity’s “Hand”
The “hand” at the end of Curiosity’s arm is called a
turret. The turret carries a drill, a brush to remove dust,
a soil scoop, and two important science tools to under-
stand if Mars ever had habitable conditions for microbial
life.
CHIMRA
Collection and Handling
APXS
for Interior Martian
Alpha Particle
X-Ray Spectrometer Rock Analysis
Drill Scoops regolith, sieves
Acquires powder from rocks and portions
One science tool on Curiosity’s turret, the Alpha Particle
X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), helps identify chemical
elements in rocks and soil and how much of each is
present. Identifying the elemental composition of lighter
elements (sodium, magnesium, or aluminum) and heavier
elements (iron, nickel, or zinc) helps scientists identify
the main materials in the Martian crust. This information
is used to select rock and soil samples, characterize
the composition of rocks after brushing off the dust,
determine how the material formed long ago, and
whether it was altered by wind, water, or ice. All previous
rovers have carried a tool like this one.
“Magnifying Glass” Arm Camera
Curiosity has a magnifying lens camera that allows it
to image very fine detail in soil and rocks. Much like a
geologist’s hand lens, this camera, the Mars Hand Lens
Imager (MAHLI), provides close-up views of minerals,
textures, and structures in Martian rocks at scales small-
er than the width of a human hair. That information will
help us understand if any rocks formed in water. Water
is necessary to life as we know it, so finding rocks with
a connection to water helps scientists select which ones
to study further. With other rover instruments, ultimately
the science team hopes to find rocks and minerals that
formed under habitable conditions and may contain
signs of organics, the chemical building blocks of life.
The magnifying lens camera also has a long-distance
focus for imaging hard-to-reach objects more than an
arm’s length away, and for providing views of the overall
terrain around the rover. With two white LED lights, it
can take pictures at night, and with ultraviolet LEDs,
can look for minerals that fluoresce. It can also send
high-definition video back to Earth and even be used to
take rover self-portraits, helpful for monitoring the rover
for engineering purposes.
Curiosity has a clamshell-shaped scoop to collect
samples from the Martian surface. This tool, known as
the Collection and Handling for Interior Martian Rock
Analysis (CHIMRA), has a system of chambers and
labyrinths used to sort, sift, and portion samples.
Curiosity sorts samples by flexing the wrist joint on
its arm to position the turret, while using a vibration
device to move material through the chambers, pas-
sages, and sieves. The vibration device also creates
the right portion size for dropping material into the inlet
ports on the rover deck for rock-analyzing instruments
(SAM and CheMin) inside the rover’s body.
More Information
mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
www.nasa.gov/msl
Facebook
Facebook.com/MarsCuriosity
Twitter
Twitter.com/MarsCuriosity
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for NASA’s
Science Mission Directorate.
1 2 5 1 Curiosity’s robotic arm.
2 Portrait of Curiosity’s chemistry
3 4 tool (APXS) on the robotic arm.
3 Curiosity’s turret “hand” at the end
of the robotic arm.
4 View of Curiosity’s first scoop.
5 Self-portrait of Curiosity taken by the arm camera, MAHLI.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech (1,3); NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS (2,4,5)

MAHLI
Mars Hand
Lens Imager DRT
Dust Removal
Tool

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Curiosity’s Landing Site — Gale Crater

www.nasa.gov
Curiosity’s Mission: Was Mars Ever Habitable?
Part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission,
Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever
sent to Mars. Curiosity’s mission is to answer the
question: did Mars ever have the right environmental
conditions to support small life forms called microbes?
The Curiosity rover landed at the base of a 3-mile-high
(5-kilometer-high) mountain inside Gale Crater. NASA
selected Gale Crater in part because instruments on
Mars orbiters previously found signs of special clay
minerals that form in the presence of water under
different conditions.
Gale Crater shows many signs that water was present
over its history. Water is a key ingredient for life as we
know it. Minerals called clays and sulfates, which are
by-products of water-related processes, are present
at Gale Crater and have been seen by orbiters flying
overhead. Some of these clay minerals near Curiosity’s
landing ellipse may preserve organic compounds, the
chemical building blocks of life. The history of water at
Gale Crater, as recorded in its rocks, will give Curiosity
lots of clues to study as it pieces together whether Mars
ever could have been a habitat for microbial life.
Gale Crater Overview
Gale is a huge crater, about 96 miles (154 kilometers)
across. You could almost fit the states of Connecticut
and Rhode Island inside of Gale Crater! Gale is just
south of the Martian equator, in the Aeolis region
(latitude: 4.5 degrees south; longitude: 137.4 degrees
east). Gale Crater sits at a low elevation relative to most
of the surface of Mars, suggesting that if Mars ever had
much flowing water, some of it would have pooled
inside Gale.
In the middle of Gale Crater is a mound, informally
named Mount Sharp, rising about 3 miles (5 kilome-
ters) above the crater floor, which is higher than Mount
Rainier rises above Seattle. The slopes of Mount Sharp
are gentle enough for Curiosity to climb, though dur-
ing the prime mission of one Martian year (98 weeks),
Curiosity will probably not go beyond the intriguing
layers near the base that are likely made of clays called
phyllosilicates. These clays are known to preserve signs
of organics, the chemical building blocks of life.
Mount Everest: 8.8 km
Mount McKinley: 6.2 km
Mount Sharp: 5.5 km
Mount Rainier: 4.4 km
Mount Sharp
Mount Sharp has thousands of individually stacked
layers of rock and dust. The mound is more than twice
as thick as the stack of rocks exposed in the Grand
Canyon. The sedimentary rock layers that make up
Mount Sharp suggest that they were laid down over
long periods of geologic time after the impact that
created Gale Crater. Each layer preserves a sliver of the
Martian past. These layers may record a time period
going back more than 3 billion years! They may have
formed from water flowing into the crater, debris blown
in by the wind, volcanic ash falling from the sky, or
remnants of a lake that dried up and left the sediments.
Or, all of the above! The changes in rocky material from
the lower (older) layers to the upper (younger) layers
in the mound may contain the story of when and why
Mars lost much of its liquid water.
 
Curiosity’s highest priority is to head for the mound and
sample each layer as it goes up. It may take Curiosity
up to a year to get to the crater mound from its landing
site.
More Information
mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
www.nasa.gov/msl
Facebook
Facebook.com/MarsCuriosity
Twitter
Twitter.com/MarsCuriosity
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for NASA’s
Science Mission Directorate.
1 3 1 Curiosity’s landing ellipse within
Gale Crater.
2 2 Curiosity’s landing site, Gale Crater.
3 Oblique view of Gale Crater.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Looking for Habitable Environments

www.nasa.gov
Curiosity’s Mission: Was Mars Ever Habitable?
Part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission,
Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever
sent to Mars. Curiosity’s mission is to answer the
question: did Mars ever have the right environmental
conditions to support small life forms called microbes?
What conditions does life need?
If all three of the following conditions exist in the same
place, the possibility of Mars as a place for life (a habitat)
is much greater.
1. Molecules that contain carbon — Most scientists
assume that if life exists beyond Earth, it would probably
be carbon-based. That’s because life on Earth is made
of molecules that contain carbon. Carbon atoms bond
easily with other carbon atoms, allowing them to make a
lot of the complex molecules life needs (proteins, nucleic
acids, fats, and carbohydrates). These molecules are
called “organics,” the chemical building blocks of life.
However, it’s hard to find organics, which break down
easily when exposed to heat, sunlight, and oxidants.
Examples of oxidants are the iron oxides (rust) in rocks
that give Mars its reddish color. The environment on
Mars is harsh on organics. With a very thin atmosphere
and no global magnetic field, Mars has no protection
from intense ultraviolet radiation and cosmic rays from
space. Created by this radiation, superoxides on the
Martian surface would break down organic molecules
rapidly and are toxic to life. Rocks exposed to radiation
for a long time on the surface of Mars cannot preserve
organics. Buried rocks, rock interiors, would help shield
any organics.
One of the best places to look for organics is in sedi-
ment that settled at the bottom of a standing body of
water long ago. When microbes (or plants and animals
on Earth) die in wet mud or fall to the bottom of a lake or
sea, the next layer of sediment covers them. Together,
the microbes and sediments compress into rock over
time. When microbes are rapidly trapped, chances are
greater they will be preserved. Low temperatures like potential energy source for microbes. As a salt, it acts
those on Mars can help preserve traces of them. Sedi- as an anti-freeze, lowering the freezing point of water
mentary rocks, such as clays and sulfates, are especially substantially, making liquid water possible during
good at protecting organics from oxidation and preserv- warmer periods on Mars.
ing them. NASA selected Gale Crater as Curiosity’s
If Curiosity detects these three conditions, the possibil-
landing site because Mars orbiters detected signs of
ity of Gale as a habitat may be greater.
both minerals in the layers of Mount Sharp in the middle
of the crater.
2. Water in liquid form — What life on Earth has in com-
mon is a dependence on liquid water, which allows car-
bon atoms to combine into complex organic molecules.
Although the Martian atmosphere is too thin for water to
persist on the surface today, prior Mars missions found
landforms likely shaped by water earlier in Martian his-
tory, subsurface water-ice, and traces of water bound in
the mineral structure of rocks at or near the surface of
Mars. The rocks Curiosity will study hold the preserved
evidence of the watery conditions that formed them.
Some rocks are formed by flowing water, while others
are formed by sediment settling to the bottom of a still
lake or sea.
Right away, Curiosity found rounded pebbles and More Information
conglomerate rocks that form in flowing water. Scientists
mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
believe that a knee-to-hip-high stream once ran by the
www.nasa.gov/msl
rover’s landing site. Scientists especially want to study
special rocks that form in water that is “just right” Facebook
for most life forms: not too acidic and not too alkaline. Facebook.com/MarsCuriosity
These rocks could include mineral clays called phyllosili- Twitter
cates and sulfates, which can form in hydrothermal areas Twitter.com/MarsCuriosity
like those at Yellowstone National Park and often pre-
serve organics. When Curiosity studies clay and sulfate The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
layers in Mount Sharp, they may indicate relatively when Technology, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for NASA’s
Science Mission Directorate.
and how long habitable environments lasted. Carbonate,
silica, and other crystalline minerals can preserve biosig-
natures, or fragments of organic molecules. 1 2 1 Conglomerate rock outcrop and
rounded pebbles as seen by Curiosity.
3. A source of energy such as heat, sunlight, or food 2 Layers at the base of Mount Sharp.
— Energy for life can come from solar radiation, heat, or 3
3 Curiosity’s view of Mount Sharp.
chemical reactions. It is possible that any microbes on
Mars process chemicals such as hydrogen or perchlo-
rate as “food.” Perchlorate exists in Martian soil as a Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
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